Snorkeling Hideaways Beach (Pali Ke Kua)
Kauai Snorkel Guide
Snorkeling Hideaways Beach can be very enjoyable. This beach is in Princeville. The access to it is near the entrance to the St. Regis Princeville Resort. It is a beautiful little secluded beach with gorgeous turquoise waters and interesting reef visible while you scramble down the hillside to it.
When the ocean is calm, in the summer months, snorkeling Hideaways is great. At other times it is a surfing beach, so don’t snorkel when there are big waves.
This beach is difficult to access for two reasons. First, the parking is very limited. A small public parking lot, for 8-10 cars, is provided for access to both this beach and Pu’u Poa Beach, meaning if you are not staying within walking distance to the trailhead, you must arrive by 8 a.m. to get a spot. The other reason is the trail itself is very challenging, if not treacherous to “walk” down.
Getting to the Beach
You access Hideaways on the trail just east of the parking lot. After a short section of flat trail, you will find a very steep set of stairs followed by what only can be described as a treacherously steep trail. If you miss a step you are going straight down the hillside. The trail has gotten even more dangerous over the last few years. There is a rusty handrail at the top and what used to be a handrail on the lower part of the trail has now degraded into a few poles with some ropes, wires and garden hoses tied between them. Have no doubt, this is a trail only for physically capable people. And when it has been raining, which is a lot of the time here, the dirt trail becomes extremely slippery mud. That said, if you have the nerve and physical endurance to get down the hill, then it is worth it.
Water Entrance for Snorkeling Hideaways Beach
You can enter the water in bare feet, but be aware of the reef spurs that come close to the beach when you are entering both for your feet and so you don’t damage any coral that might be there. It is quite easy though to find a channel to walk into and put on your fins. The beach here can be quite steep, so watch for large drop-offs in the sand on entry and exit.
Where To Snorkel
As you will see through your polarized sunglasses on the way down the hill, there is a lot of spur and groove reef here that runs perpendicular to the beach. It comes very close to the shoreline making the access once you reach the beach easy. You can snorkel in and out of the grooves in front of the beach. Sometimes you can find an area to swim over the reef further out to get to the next groove over. The water depths are fairly shallow on the reef in front of the beach, no more than 10 feet. You can swim straight out for longer than you dare, and will still be in shallow reef. There is no real reason to swim a long ways out though. The best stuff is close to shore. There is very little live coral, but there are tons of fish, and the channels provide interesting topography to explore. The water visibility snorkeling Hideaways Beach can be very good during calm summer days. But it can get pretty poor other times.
Toward the right side of the beach there is a rocky point and the water is deeper in front of it, 15 feet or so. It is also spur and groove reef here to explore, just deeper. And if the waves are up this area can have current and very poor visibility. You will notice that there is another beach further to the right, but the snorkeling in front of it is not nearly as interesting as in front of Hideaways and there aren’t as many fish.
What We Saw Snorkeling Hideaways Beach
You will see many sea cucumbers on the reef and you are likely to see a turtle, especially if you swim out a bit. There are a lot of fish here and in good variety. Here is what we saw:
Barracuda, Great
Blenny, Stareye
Butterflyfish: Bluestripe, Longnose, Teardrop, Threadfin
Coris: Yellowstripe - initial/female, Yellowtail - juvenile
Damselfish: Blue-Eye, Brighteye
Dascyllus, Hawaiian
Drummer, Gray (Rudderfish)
Goatfish: Blue, Yellowstripe
Gregory, Hawaiian
Grouper, Peacock
Hawkfish: Freckled, Stocky
Moray Eel, Whitemouth
Parrotfish, Stareye
Sergeant: Blackspot, Indo-Pacific
Snapper, Blacktail
Surgeonfish, Whitebar
Tang: Convict, Lavender
Toby, Hawaiian Whitespotted
Trevally, Bluefin
Triggerfish: Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, Lei (Scythe)
Unicornfish, Bluespine
Wrasse: Bird, Christmas, Hawaiian Cleaner, Pearl, Saddle, Surge
More Snorkeling Hideaways Beach Info
The parking access is limited at Hideaways. For full driving directions, more pictures and to learn all of our favorite spots, check out our Kauai Snorkeling Guide eBook
Check out some reviews on Yelp about snorkeling Hideaways Beach.
Now check out Tunnels
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